Voting got under way in Iraq on Wednesday in the first national elections since US forces left two years ago, despite a virtual lockdown in most towns and cities that officials expected would limit turnout at polling stations.

Iraqis have shown little enthusiasm for the ballot to elect a new parliament, prime minister, president and speaker, which is being held amid rising violence in many provinces and after an underwhelming campaign in which candidates offered few solutions or fresh approaches.

Iraqi officials opened some streets in Baghdad in the afternoon, one hour before polls were due to close, in a bid to encourage people scared by the threat of violence to cast votes.

Two roadside bombs exploded in Dibis, near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on Wednnesday morning, killing two women walking to a polling station and wounding five soldiers There was also a roadside bomb in Mosul but the capital remained largely free of attacks, a security plan months in the making proving effective.

The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is contesting the leadership for a third time and his conservative Shia State of Law list is likely to emerge with most seats in the new 328-seat parliament. Maliki, though, is unlikely to win anything like the majority he needs to avoid a long and destabilising period of horse-trading with other parties in order to establish a coalition.

Unlike the past two elections, security has overshadowed enduring concerns about basic governance and services, which remain sub-standard more than 10 years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Maliki has attempted to position himself as a unifying force – the only leader strong enough to rally Iraq's security forces against a looming threat from Sunni insurgents in Anbar province that are attempting to topple him and usurp the country's malfunctioning democracy.

However, many Iraqis believe that the revitalised insurgency is slowly gaining an upper hand and that security forces and Maliki are powerless to stop them encircling Baghdad.

The country's Sunnis, whose power base was shattered by the downfall of Saddam, remain largely disenfranchised and viewed with suspicion by Shia-dominated security forces. Sunni residents of Baghdad contacted ahead of the election said they doubted the result of the election would offer them more of a voice in the affairs of state.

In many parts of the capital, checkpoints were set up every 500 metres. The few cars that took to largely deserted streets were moving at snail's pace past locals walking to polling booths in schools and government buildings.

As security has worsened in Iraq in the past two years, already rampant corruption has worsened. Much of the political class is accused of using public funds to enrich themselves and their backers at the expense of the state.

Polling stations were due to close at 6pm, after which a curfew will be imposed. The ballot-counting process will start on Wednesday night and preliminary results are expected to be released as early as Thursday.

As the country prepares to go the polls for the third time since the fall of Saddam Hussein and after its deadliest period in five years, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad finds the people of Buhriz fighting a new wave of insurgents – and for their lives